We don't need to reconcile differences

Via Roman Catholic Blog comes this statement originally from the Diocese of Brooklyn’s ecumenical office.

"To embrace and learn from the differences between us, rather than reconcile them, gives each of us a new understanding of conversion. Rather than seeking to change the faith of others, we hope that through dialogue our own hearts and minds can be changed, allowing us to see new images of God, new glimpses of Truth."

The problem with statements like these is that they have a degree of truth in them that gets subverted by a larger falsehood. It is certainly true that all religions have some degree of truth in them and that other faiths can at times help us to see those truths that already part of our faith more clearly. But this false view of ecumenism where we will be more affected by the other than the other by us is just plain mistaken. If we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves we want the same good for our neighbor as we do four ourselves. A relationship directed at us getting more out if it than the other is inverted. This is not the intent, but this becomes the reality of it. Our hearts should be burning with the desire that we all be one as regards to Jesus’ high priestly prayer. To have the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, and not have an evangelical zeal that your brothers can enter into a real communion with Christ’s Church is less than charitable. This false ecumenism is more about just getting along than sharing the truth. True ecumenism requires that we share the Catholic faith as best we can and also that we truly understand the theology of others. This allows us to plainly see where there are both agreements and disagreements and allows us a foundation on which to build on. False ecumenism pretends that there are not substantial differences and in the end truth doesn’t really matter as long as we just get along. Jesus allowed some of his disciples to walk away when it came to the hard truth of the Eucharist in John 6. We must preach the truth with clarity and charity.

Here is something by the late Fr. Hardon, S.J. on ecumenism.

Since the close of the Second Vatican Council, many Catholics have sincerely initiated relationships with the churches separated from Rome without taking into full account the doctrinal foundations on which true ecumenism must be based. True ecumenism is the Christian unity that Christ Himself revealed. It is the unity which is not merely verbal but real. It is the unity which preserves all the essential elements of faith and morality prescribed by the Savior for those who are to be His followers in truth and not only in name.

True unity necessarily requires a clear and deep understanding of the premises of belief and practice required by the founder of the Church who died on the Cross because He refused to compromise with the truth. True unity is certainly animated by a deep Christian love. But this love must be founded on the truth which the Roman Catholic Church has preserved for twenty centuries and for which millions of her followers have shed their blood.

True unity is impossible without union with the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter on whom Christ promised to build His Church.